


Unsurprising

by pwincess



Category: Galaxy Quest (1999)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 14:21:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1094960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pwincess/pseuds/pwincess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All about Guy</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unsurprising

**Author's Note:**

  * For [trollprincess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/trollprincess/gifts).



> Sorry this doesn't follow your prompt more closely! I tried but I guess I got all swept up.

The first month Guy moves to LA an agent tells him—not _his_ agent, he hasn’t found one yet—but an agent he talks to one time tells him to change his name. Isn’t sexy, she says. Guy frowns and nods in reply and takes the advice seriously, but in the end decides to stick with the name his mother gave him.

A few days later he lands his first audition. A small part in Galaxy Quest. Guy watches Galaxy Quest, tapes the episodes and everything, and thinks it’s awesome to have a chance to be part of it, even if he just got to LA and knows it’s a long shot. He chooses a monologue he thinks will be appropriate, shows up to the studio early with it memorized and rehearsed.

“Guy Fleegman,” he tells the other man in the waiting area, “Thought about changing my name to something sexier. But someday, Guy Fleegman is going to be _synonymous_ with sexy.”

Guy is called into the room and the audition is short. The producer barely lets him get a word out before saying, “Yep. That’s fine,” sighing, and telling him where to be for shooting.

“Yes!” Guy shouts when he leaves the audition room. He is on his way.

*

The Galaxy Quest gig is amazing. It’s Guy’s first time on a professional sound stage, and he introduces himself to anyone who doesn’t look too busy, and meets some really cool people. The work itself is fun, too. He doesn’t get the script until he gets to the set, but he takes a few minutes to think about his character and has a great time.

After that it’s all starts and stops for Guy’s career. He books a couple of commercials that air state-wide. He lands a non-speaking role in an attic theater production of A Christmas Carol. These types of jobs are his bread and butter for a while. Guy loves all of it.

He has some false alarms, too. In 1988, he plays one of the leads in a pilot that actually gets picked up, but they replace him with another actor, explaining that they loved him, but he just wasn’t right for the character. They’ll keep him in mind for when the right role comes up. A few years later he gets a supporting part in a romantic comedy, but the funding falls through.

“You’ve been here for 10 years? Jesus,” says a busty 22-year-old he meets at a trendy club, “I’ve been here for 10 _months_ and I already feel like I’m going nowhere.”

“It’s not that bad, actually! And you know what they say, never give up, never surrender.”

“That’s from Galaxy Quest!” she informs him. He pays for her next drink and goes home feeling really good, although he can’t put his finger on why.

*

Galaxy Quest creeps back into his life in the mid-90s, and it turns out there’s actually a bit of work there. He gets a call from a convention organizer who’s rounding up all the actors he can—even bit players—for a reunion. It’s not a paying gig, but Guy is excited to go, and has a great time.

He thinks he might finally get to meet some of the main cast, but it’s a big con and they’re somewhere else. He does get to meet the lady who played Dr. Lazarus’ old flame. Guy wants to ask her questions about her method playing a Mak’Tar rebel given the stringent social bonds of the species, but he manages to play it cool.

He does talk to some of the show’s fans, though. When Guy recounts his role to them, people do seem to remember his death scene, although none of them can place his face.

The convention organizer is impressed by Guy’s passion and knowledge of the show, and soon Guy is pretty steady on the convention circuit, getting called for maybe eight or ten shows a year, and getting paid. Guy is pleased that the fans are still so devoted that the conventions are so frequent, and honored to be a part of the Galaxy Quest tradition, even if no one’s ever recognized him.

*

At one convention, he approaches the signing table, and Tommy Webber remembers him and thanks him for his introduction. And he meets Gwen DeMarco. Guy imagines telling his mom on the phone come Tuesday, _no big deal_ , he'll say, but his palms are sweating as he offers to jump in on the signing.

It turns out not to be the most notable thing to happen to him that week.

*

He goes into space, with the crew--the actual crew--and he finally feels like he's doing something. He thought he was before, never really felt like he was wasting his life or anything like that, but now that he's being noticed, and by people he respects, he realizes how wrong he was. They make a difference. He makes a difference.

*

To Guy's surprise, Tommy calls him the day after they get home, asks him to have lunch. Alexander is there, too, and the next day he sees Jason and Gwen. And then they really do follow up with him--and not in the shallow, Hollywood way that some actors tend to keep up with contacts. They went through something together. They actually want to be friends with him.

*

They talk about rebooting the show. They talk about it a lot, when they get together, in emails, over the phone.

Gwen (who has the most passionate fanbase, much to Alexander's quiet frustration), gets an interview in Entertainment Weekly where she mentions the possibility, and they create some hype, put some pressure on the network who still owns the franchise. It's a calculated move, and yeah, they all talk it out, and Guy is included in the conversation, but he’s still surprised they create a role for him, which is probably the greatest honor he’s ever gotten.

“Can you believe this?” he asks Laliari when they're touring the new and improved set for the first time. She’s a fan of the show too, so he figures she must be stoked, but honestly she just seems equally excited about everything.

“Yes, I can,” she tells him, smiling. She’s hard to get a read on, even for someone who’s studied the craft like Guy has.

*

The network likes the relaunch episode they put together, and picks up a very tentative 13-episode order. Buzz about the show is pretty high, owing to the nostalgia factor and the enduring cultural impact of the original series, apparently.

The production company sends the cast to Comic-Con in San Diego months before they're acually set to air. It's somewhat surreal to be on this side of things. They're slated to have a panel on Friday, where the audience will get to see some footage and then ask the actors questions. Guy is excited to sit in and see the process up close. He knows there are sometimes questions for the whole group, and imagines answering one of those. Maybe if they do more of these once the new episodes have started airing, he'll even have his own fans who want to talk to him specifically.

It's sort of surreal being grouped in with the Galaxy Quest cast. He gets put up in a luxury room near the Convention Center. He shares with Tommy, but even Tommy is impressed with the treatment they get. The day before the panel, a guard ushers them through the exhibition hall so they can do a meet & greet photo op type of thing. It takes a while, because the hall is packed, and people keep trying to stop the others and meet them. Jason, Gwen, Alexander, and Tommy get stopped the most. Fred nudges Guy and rolls his eyes, smiling, and Guy laughs, because he knows Jason now, and Jason is not as great as these people seem to think he is. But Jason is open, happy to exchange time and attention with everyone, and Guy has to admit he's okay.

"Guy Fleegman! Oh my god, this is awesome," a boy shouts near him before being absorbed into the moving crowd. Guy doesn't think any of the others heard, or would have thought anything of it if they did. But he can't do anything but gape after the kid for a few seconds as Laliari tugs him along by his hand.

At the photo op, Guy shakes hands and introduces himself to every fan. He still doesn't want to assume anyone knows who he is, so he tells everyone his name, and tacks on an "I'm new" if there are any signs of confusion. Mostly he stays in the background. A couple fans seem to have seen the episode already, somehow, and a couple people even speak to Guy specifically. 

One young woman finishes politely shaking hands with Alexander, looks Guy right in the eye, and says, "Heeyyyy, sexy." Her friend hides her face in her hands.

Guy laughs and then replies, "Hey there! Guy Fleegman."

"Like I said," says the girl, and then moves down the row to meet Laliari and Fred. The friend still has one hand on her face when she shakes Guy's hand. The first girl stands next to Guy and makes him do a Roc Ingersol finger-point with her when they pose for their photo.

*

Galaxy Quest: The Journey Continues is a hit, with the qualifier "for a sci-fi show," but that's good enough to earn them a full season and then a second season pick-up. They're popular with young adults and families, and advertisers love it. Critical reviews are good (also with the aforementioned qualifier). The Times reviewer says "Give it a try." The Post refers to Guy as "a much-appreciated fresh face," followed by three paragraphs on the phenomenal Jane Doe. TV Guide does a spread on the hottest new faces of the fall season and Roc Ingersol is included. His picture is bigger than a teenage vampire, so Guy is suitably humbled.

They film an interview with Guy to put on the first season DVD, and they have him say that he was on the show before, in a minor role. He briefly mimes his big Crewman #6 moment, because he knows that if people are gonna remember anything about the character, it's his death. When he gets his copy of the DVD in the mail, there's a whole 3-minute compilation of dozens of fans reinacting the scene. For Guy, it feels like maybe he's not the new guy in the show after all, like maybe he was always part of the Galaxy Quest family and it was all just leading him to this.


End file.
